Outrage earn first round playoff victory

Story courtesy TKO Public Relations

Kalamazoo, MI (July 22, 2008) - The Kalamazoo Outrage PDL side continued their fairytale debut season in the United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League with a first round playoff victory over the Chicago Fire Premier on Tuesday.

The victory gives the Outrage a Central Conference semi final playoff spot against the highly regarded and respected Michigan Bucks. The match will be played this Saturday night in Detroit, MI at the Ultimate Soccer Arena and is slated for a 7:30pm kick off.

Speaking en route back from Chicago, Outrage head coach Stu Riddle was full of praise for his side "I think tonight we gained a good bit of credibility in this league. We have performed above expectations for a first year franchise and we are all enjoying the experience".

Riddle refused to single any individuals out saying that the victory was a "complete team performance".

The Outrage frustrated their more highly regarded opponents for the majority of the first half and deservedly took the lead in the 43rd minute. Irish striker Alan McGreal created himself some space in the box and laid a perfect pass on for marauding midfielder Mark Briggs. Briggs calmly slotted the ball past Fire custodian Pat Sperry to make it 1-0 to the Outrage.

The Fire would huff and puff in the early parts of the second stanza but they wouldn't find a way past an outstanding Outrage defensive quartet or commanding keeper Bobby Shuttleworth. Their task to overturn the deficit would become a bigger one when Lance Muckey latched on to Eric Alexander's neat through ball and calmly slotted past Sperry to give the Outrage a 2-0 lead.

Shuttleworth would make some good saves in the later stages of the game but the victory was almost of a greater margin when Tom Oatley narrowly missed out on extending the lead when he rattled the Fire post with 12 minutes remaining.

With the victory the Outrage become the first team ever from Western Michigan to win a PDL playoff match, a feat Riddle was duly proud of "I set my staff and players some clear goals at the start of the season and am very encouraged with our progress to date. I don't want this season to end - our players now know they must fear no one and keep this momentum going into our match with the Bucks".

Scoring Summary:
OUTRAGE: Mark Briggs (Alan McGreal) - 43rd minute
OUTRAGE: Lance Muckey (Eric Alexander) - 63rd minute

Outrage Line Up: Shuttleworth, Musa, Loyd, Warmer, Alvino, Reed, Alexander, Briggs, Howard, Stencel (Muckey 55, Oatley 64), McGreal (Simpara 72)